New Poll Puts Sen. Brown Ahead of Warren in Mass.

Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown is leading his presumed Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren by 8 points in a new poll conducted by the Polling Institute at Western New England University.

The poll of 527 registered Massachusetts voters taken between Feb. 23 and March 1 on behalf of The Republican newspaper, MassLive.com, and El Pueblo Latino found that 49 percent of those surveyed would back Brown if the election were held today, while Warren would pick up 41 percent of the votes.

Brown also led Warren in a poll conducted last fall by the Polling Institute, but his support has climbed 2 points since then while Warren’s has dropped 1 point.

As expected, Brown’s support overall came primarily from those who identified themselves as Republicans, with 94 percent calling Brown an ideal candidate. But 22 percent of those surveyed who identified themselves as Democrats also agreed with that assessment, as did 58 percent of those who said they were independent voters.

Warren, meanwhile, drew 70 percent of support from those identifying themselves as Democrats, 29 percent from independents and four percent from Republicans.

“Warren needs to shore up her base of support among Democrats and make progress with independent voters if she is to close the gap with Brown,” observed Polling Institute director Tim Vercellotti. “As it stands now, Brown is in a strong position to win re-election.”